Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Key block or tameshizuri-e oban of a bijin, Kaji-jo the poetess of Gion, Kyoto, reclining on a balcony
1845 – 1846
9.75 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Chōōrō Kuniyoshi ga
朝櫻樓国芳画
Publisher: Iseya Ichiemon
(Marks 143 - seal 24-068)
Censor's seal: Kinugasa
British Museum - the colored version of this print
Minneapolis Institute of Art - another nishiki-e copy of this print It is interesting that the space reserved along the upper right side does not have the series title yet. In the colored versions found at the British Museum and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts the title is Chuko meiyo kijin den or 'Biographies of Exceptional Persons of Loyalty and Honour' (忠考名誉奇人傳). The figure is Kaji-jo (梶女), the poetess of Gion, Kyoto.
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Kuniyoshi produced at least four prints devoted to this woman. This one is listed in Robinson as S35 number 4. Scholten Japanese Art wrote of Robinson S29.4: "...Gion Kaji (or Kajijo- Lady of the Mulberry Leaf) was the owner of the Matsuya tea house located south of the gate to Gion Shrine (now known as Yasaka Shrine) in Kyoto. She was was renowned for her poetry and in 1707 the Edo poet Miyazaki Ameishi (d. 1758) published a collection of her waka poems in the volume, Kaji no ha, with illustrations by the Kyoto textile designer Miyazaki Yuzen (d. 1758). She was reputedly a niece of the Rinpa school painter Ogata Korin (1658-1716), although that may be an apocryphal embellishment that evolved from her association with the Kyoto artistic milieu. In this portrait set within a round mirror, Kuniyoshi presents Kaji paired with the kikyo (bell flower)- a favorite subject of the Rinpa artists."
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A tameshizuri-e (試し刷り画) can be a practice, proof or a key block print.
Iseya Ichiemon (伊勢屋市右衛門) (publisher)
beautiful women (bijin-ga - 美人画) (genre)